It is quite common to employ trays and tables adjacent to beds for a multitude of purposes. Many people find it relaxing the have breakfast or some other meal in bed where a tray is placed on or in conjunction with a user. However, as one or more persons shift their weight in bed, trays residing upon a mattress surface or on the lap of a user can often times shift resulting in liquids and other consumables spilling from the tray and onto a user or the surrounding bedding surface.
Trays and portable tables are also used in hospitals and similar environments where a bedridden patient is forced to consume his or her meals in a prone or semi-prone orientation. Generally, portable tabletops are wheeled adjacent the bed to provide a substantially horizontally-oriented tabletop surface. However, portable trays of this type are generally supported by vertically extending support members and are usually attached to a wheeled base which limits access to the patient. Further, as a nurse or other healthcare practitioner works with the patient in proximity to the portable tray, the structure can be nudged or bumped inadvertently causing the contents residing on the tray surface to spill.
It is quite apparent that there are a wide variety of uses for horizontally-oriented trays in conjunction with bedding. However, the prior art has seemingly completely ignored the above-recited limitations.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a combination headboard and stowable tray while avoiding the limitations of the prior art.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a combination headboard and stowable tray which can function to provide a horizontally-oriented tabletop surface on demand but which, when not in use, can appear as a decorative headboard similar to those of the prior art.
These and further objects will become more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.